Murad Code Project - Quarterly Highlights
This is the first 2025 quarterly update on key highlights from the Murad Code project. If you would like to learn more about any of these activities or discuss collaborating with the team, please reach out to info@muradcode.com.
IICI and Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley launch pilot version of Open-Source Practitioner’s Guide
IICI and the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law have launched a pilot version of a guide for open-source practitioners on how to conduct survivor-centred and effective open-source research, investigations and other information-gathering into systematic and conflict-related sexual violence (SCRSV), using the Code as the benchmark and framework.
Practitioners are invited to share feedback on and suggested additions to the pilot version of guide by 30 June 2025, before the final version is published later this year.
“Helpdesk” sessions with information-gatherers and users from Afghanistan, the MENA region and Latin America
Through its “helpdesk”, the Murad Code project team is available to offer stand-by advisory and technical assistance on implementing the Code when requested by governments, UN bodies and agencies, and NGOs. To date, the team has delivered sessions with over 350 practitioners working on SCRSV from a range of professional angles and disciplines, offering in-depth discussion of how the standards captured in the Code can be used to change or strengthen practice.
In the first quarter of 2025, the team delivered sessions with Afghan human rights defenders and documenters through the Afghanistan Human Rights Coordination Mechanism (AHRCM) and members of the Mexico GBV Subworking Group for Refugees, Asylum-Seekers, and Migrants, co-chaired by UNHCR and UNFPA. In late 2024, the team also partnered with the International Centre for Transitional Justice to deliver a session for NGOs working in the MENA region.
The presentations developed for these sessions are available on the Resources page in Farsi, Spanish and Arabic. To request a copy that can be used offline, please email info@muradcode.com.
Work underway to develop a practice guidance note on meeting the Murad Code commitments related to mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS)
In addition to setting out an approach to information-gathering and use that minimises the risk of harm and re-traumatisation for survivors, and contributes to their wellbeing, the Code includes specific commitments regarding the need for information-gatherers and users to ensure appropriate mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS) services are available and able to receive referrals prior to engaging with survivors. IICI has received feedback from users of the Code that these principles are some of the most challenging to meet and has been made aware of numerous examples of harm caused either by lack of integrated MHPSS in interactions with survivors (e.g. in contexts where MHPSS services are not available or able to receive referrals) or from the involvement of inexperienced MHPSS and other practitioners.
The consistent and clear input from survivors during consultations to develop the Code was that effective, integrated MHPSS was a non-negotiable, critical red-line principle which must be in place before information-gatherers and users engage in any survivor interactions. To support practitioners to uphold their obligations to survivors, IICI is developing a practice guidance note for information-gatherers and users on meeting the Murad Code commitments on MHPSS, which is due to be launched in the coming months.